Betrayal
by Wakkowarnerlover
Summary: Perry's father forces him to betray the agency to protect Phineas and Ferb.


"I hate eating watermelon." Perry complained to Darren the duck. "It gets juice all over your hands and chin and you have to spit out the seeds and when you bite into it you have to make a disgusting slurping noise."

"If you hate eating it so much, why do you eat it?" Darren asked.

"I love watermelon!" Perry said, shocked. "I could have sworn you knew that."  
They were sitting at the O.W.C.A meeting table. Monogram had called an emergency meeting, and Perry knew exactly why.

Perry's father, Percy, had been a rogue agent who had gotten his memory wiped, but Perry had accidentally prompted him to remember everything that had happened. Percy had threatened to shut down the agency after Perry refused to do so himself.

"I'm just so worried." Perry whispered to Darren.

"About the watermelon?"

"What are the other agents going to think when they find out my father's… evil?"

"They won't care." Darren reassured him. "They never left your side back when I was making fun of you."

"This is different. That was you telling them lies about me. This is Major Monogram telling them the truth about me."

"You don't have a single enemy in this room."

"Not yet."

"Just try to relax."

Monogram came in and sat down next to his unpaid intern, Carl.

"I'm afraid I have some dire news." He said. "Agent P and Agent D have recently informed me that a group of rogue agents is planning to bring down the agency. We need to protect O.W.C.A, as well as all of you from getting hurt. We've done some research and found that Dennis is leading this group, along with Gina the Gazelle and Percy the Platypus, who have managed to rid of their memory wipes."

Peter the Panda raised his paw.

"Yes, Peter?"

Peter wrote down something on a piece of paper and held it up. He didn't really talk, since he was a panda. Sometimes it was easy to tell what he was thinking, though.

"Yes, Peter, you may be excused to the restroom." Monogram sighed.

Peter got up and left the room.

"Anyhow, we'll need agents here to protect this. Agent B and Agent E, our highest security agents, will remain here 24/7. The rest of you will need to trade off." He began reading off a list.

Perry zoned out and began looking out the window. He always had been rather distracted.

Suddenly he remembered. His family. What had Percy done there after he'd hung up?

Perry threw his jetpack on his back and blasted out of the meeting room, ignoring Monogram's calls after him.

* * *

He landed in the zoo's platypus enclosure.

Pansy was lying down in the very middle, shaking. Perry's brothers and sisters surrounded her.

"Percy gotted mad at her." Said Paige.

Pablo opened his mouth. "I lost one of my teethies."

Perry went over to Pansy and touched her head. "Mom? Are you okay?"

"My name is Pansy." She said shakily.

"Pansy, what did he do?"  
Pansy looked up at him. "He threw one of my magical egg platypuses. Against the cave wall. And I told him to stop, and he wouldn't. And then he said he would come back and take all my magical egg platypuses and they would have to help him destroy some thing called Owwooccah."

"O.W.C.A."

"Yes."

"Which one did he throw? Penny?"

"How did you know?"

"Is she okay?"

"She is fine. She flew away on the fiery whipped cream cans to go to some place called Dan Ville." Pansy looked very frightened. "He wanted you and her. He says he will take you. I am scared."

"Don't worry."

"He never acted like this. He was my friend." Pansy looked close to tears. "We shared the magical eggs, and now he wants to take them."

"Mom…"

"Pansy."

"Mom, I'm going to take you guys somewhere, okay? This makes no sense to you because you're not really the sharpest crayon in the box right now."

"I am a platypus, not a crayon."

"I'll take you to the place where I was trained. I got smarter." Perry held out his hand. "We'll all have to hang on, though. Grab on. Don't let go."

The platypuses all joined hands, and Perry flew them back to headquarters.

* * *

"Agent P, I can only train so many agents at a time." Monogram said after Perry brought his family inside the agency.

Perry sighed.

"I can keep them safe, if that's what you're worried about. But I can't train them."

Perry pushed Pansy forward and gave Monogram a pleading look.

"I'll see if Agent E can train her." Monogram finally said.

"I don't like trains. They are noisy." Pansy said to Perry.

"Training. It makes you smarter." Perry explained.

Pansy went off with Agent E.

Perry went outside to look for Darren. He wasn't sure what to do about the code his father had given him.

He turned a corner and was shoved into a car.

* * *

Perry revived in the middle of some shack. He had been tied up against a pole. For a second he thought he was at Doofenshmirtz's.

"I told you not to knock him out!"

"He fought us. I could hardly drive."

"Well, tie him up, then!"

"We DID."

Perry was able to make out Dennis and Percy in the dark.

"Dad, why are you doing this?"

Percy turned to look at him. "Oh, good, he's awake." He walked over to Perry.

"Dad."

"Did you enter the code?"

"No, and I never said I would. I didn't want to."

Percy sighed. "Perry. The agency did horrible things to us. It needs to be destroyed."

"What about all the villains?" Perry asked. "Who's going to protect everyone from them?"

"We'll work that out later." Dennis snapped.

"Perry, you're an amazing agent. You have to help me." Percy pleaded.

"Why? Because I'm your son?"

"Technically, yes."

Perry fought against the ropes.

"Double-knotted." Percy said, looking a little sinister. "Without you, Perry, I never would have remembered a thing."

"Thanks for the guilt-trip."

Percy's eyes flashed. "I've tried to cut you some slack because you're my son. But obviously you're more my enemy."

"Untie me!"

"No." Percy thought a moment. "Apparently we might have to try Plan B."  
"Since you're being so uncooperative." Dennis added.

"I won't work for you." Perry snarled.

Dennis looked straight into his eyes. "Those two kids. What are their names again?" He hesitated for a moment. "Oh. Right. Phineas and Ferb."

Perry felt his heart stop. He wouldn't…

"I'm sure you'll live a very happy life with them if you help us. If not… let's just say that we hope they're very fast runners."

"Don't you DARE hurt them!" Perry growled, struggling to break from his trap. Dennis only laughed.

Percy shrugged. "I'm sorry, Perry. I tried to be nice. But that's our deal."

"I still have your code." Perry said quietly.

Percy nodded, the coldness gone from his gaze. "Enter it tonight."

"No later." Dennis said.

Percy pulled on an end of the rope and released Perry. Perry leapt on him and knocked him down, but Percy had him on the floor gasping for breath in a minute.

"I'm much more experienced than you." He said. "Go. Our deal still stands. And don't try to resist."

"Don't put it in!"

"He's going to hurt them!"

Darren chased Perry down O.W.C.A's dark halls.

"Perry, the guards let you in! They trust you! Everyone trusts you!"

"Phineas and Ferb always come first, Darren! You know that!"

Darren grabbed Perry and held him back. "No, Perry. Don't you see what you're doing? A week ago you were in tears about how your father hurt so many innocent people just because of his owners. You were so worried you'd turn out like him."

"He did it because he wanted to LIVE with his owners. I just want to save them! He THREATENED them, Darren!"

"Perry, I can't let you do this!"

Perry broke away and ran into the main computer room. He felt terrible. He didn't want to do this. He wanted to do anything but this.

But Phineas and Ferb were more important to him than anything.

Perry slammed the code inside the machine. Darren ran up to him and pulled him back.

Within an instant, an alarm went off and men crashed through the roof, the walls, everywhere.

"The SS SN men." Darren whispered. "It activates them so they fight against us. This… is bad."

They were surrounded.

"I'm so sorry…" Perry clutched Darren in fear.

* * *

Perry looked down at his wrist communicator, which had just blinked on. It showed Monogram, standing against a wall with several other terrified agents.

"Use Emergency Escape 502!" Monogram said.

Perry gave a nod. He slammed his hand on a red button on his watch and grasped onto Darren.

A passageway opened up underneath him, but an SS SN man grabbed the two of them before they could fall through.

"Password." One said.

Darren looked at Perry.

Perry thought a moment. "Dennis?"

The SS SN man let him and Darren fall through the tube. It went down much father than all the others.

Finally, they landed in the O.W.C.A getaway van. Monogram landed in the driver's seat a second later, Carl next to him.

It was a little squished in the back, especially since the really big security agents had come along for the ride as well. Perry wondered how Agent B had managed to squish himself into a tiny getaway tube.

Monogram hit the gas and they were off.

Along the way, Carl explained that there was a hidden building downtown that they would use now that the agency had been invaded.

"Someone put in a code." Monogram said darkly. "One of these agents is a spy."

Perry shrank back in a corner and pulled his hat down over his eyes. All the other agents looked toward each other cautiously.

"Man, wonder who it was." Devon said to Darren.

Darren looked over toward Perry, but said, "Yeah. Real mystery."

Pinky the Chihuahua was shivering, but this time it was from fear and not from cold. Agent E was trying to make more space for the younger agents by squishing up as far as possible, but being a huge eagle, it wasn't very effective.

"Are you okay, Perry?" Pinky asked. "You don't look so good."

"I'm carsick."

"I get bus-sick!" Said Devon.

"I get unicyclesick!" Said Carrie.

Everyone stared at her.

"What? It's easy to get sick from unicycles. They wobble too much."  
Finally the van stopped inside a high-tech looking building. Monogram got out and opened the huge trunk doors so the agents could get out.

The youngest agents bounded out first, pushing older agents out of the way. After they were all out, the rest of the agents cautiously climbed from the van, nervous about the new location.

"Carl and I are going to go check the security cameras after we get you all settled. Just so we can see if there was anyone left behind in our hasty escape." Monogram said.

* * *

"You got any twos?"

"Go fish."

Perry, Darren and Devon were playing cards in the agency's lobby. Monogram had already given them their temporary rooms in case they'd wanted to stay a while, as well as the address of the place so they could find it after they went home.

Perry was great with cards. He'd taught himself how to play after fiddling with a deck during one of Doofenshmirtz's backstories. He was able to do magic tricks with them as well.

But Devon was a pretty simple guy. He'd rather shuffle the deck himself instead of having Perry produce a shuffled one out of thin air. He claimed it "frightened" him.

Devon had been talking pretty much the whole game. Perry had tuned it out for long periods and found it difficult to follow along with when he tuned back in.

"So, she was all up in his face and was like, 'are you gonna get the hippo back in the bathroom or not?' and he was all like, 'no, because I still need a nickel.' You know how that is?"

Perry waited for Devon to respond to Darren's question, but there was silence. Perry looked up. The two agents were staring at him.

"Perry, I've been talking to you this whole time. Haven't you been listening?" Darren demanded.

"Yeah… But why does he need a nickel for the hippo in the bathroom?"  
Darren groaned and slammed his head down on the table. "You totally missed the whole point of the story, dude."

"Sorry."

More silence.

"Where's everyone else?" Devon suddenly asked, slamming his cards down on the table.

"Beats me." Perry looked back at his deck.

"It's kinda nice alone. You know, without all the half-mindless youngsters around." Darren said.

"Well, I'm just curious."

"Maybe they're looking at the security cams with Monogram. They love seeing candid stuff. I watched those once and got to see Agent B picking his nose." Darren stood up and stretched. Then he stopped. "Security cams…"

Perry looked at him. "Yeah?"

"Perry… last night… everywhere in the agency… on film…"

Perry and Darren stared at each other.

"Okay, that made less sense than one of your stories." Devon said.

Darren and Perry ran to the camera room.

All the agents were crowded around a huge screen. They turned as Darren and Perry screeched to a stop. Their faces were full of confusion and terror.

Monogram turned too, and so did Carl. Monogram looked hurt, and Carl just looked scared.

Very slowly, Perry aimed his eyes toward the screen. It was paused.

The image of him inserting the code, and Darren desperately trying to stop him.

"Down the hall." Monogram said. "If you walk down the hall, you two, you'll see a bench. I want you to sit on it until I come to get you."

* * *

Perry was shaking. He'd never felt so embarrassed, scared, and awful in his life.

He tried to look around at the photos on the wall for comfort as he sat. There were photographs of past agents. Most had won medals.

Perry hadn't won a medal yet, but that had been his goal.

Finally, the door next to the bench opened, and Darren walked out.

"Agent P?" Monogram called from the room.

Darren looked pale. "I'm not allowed to come near here for three days." He said. "I didn't inform them of your… apparent betrayal… or something like that."

"Agent P?"

Perry stood up, still shaking. He wondered if this was how Pinky felt all the time.

"You'll be okay." Darren said quietly.

Perry took a deep breath and went inside.

* * *

Monogram stared at him for a long time before he finally spoke.

"I never thought you'd try anything like this."

Perry looked down at the floor, his eyes watering.

"We trusted you, Agent P. You're the greatest field agent in our organization. You were difficult to train, as well as very distracted, but still the best agent we ever knew. And I never said this aloud, but you had always been my favorite."

Perry continued to look at the tile pattern on the floor.

"People warned me about you."

The tile had flowers along the sides.

"They said you were too much of a rebel, not trustworthy."

The flowers kind of looked like a ferret if you looked at them sideways.

"I told them everything, how great you were, how well you got out of traps, how you always obeyed every command. But I guess I was wrong. You proved me wrong, Agent P. When I found out Percy was your father, I knew you weren't him. So I said nothing more about the subject."

Perry wasn't able to find anything else to think about the tile.

"But I suppose you had too much of your father in you. I'm sorry." Monogram took off Perry's hat. "One year, Agent E."

Perry hadn't noticed the large eagle standing behind him. Agent E quickly snapped handcuffs on his wrists. Perry didn't try to fight him.

This time, he knew he was guilty.

* * *

There was a bowl of watermelon. And a book.

Perry tried to be interested in the book. It was about some guy going off to find himself.

At least the watermelon was good, and there was a nice view of a pretty garden outside of his window.

It would be a better view if the bars weren't there.

"Hey, rulebreaker. Nice to see you again." Said a familiar metallic voice.

Perry turned to face his second dimension self, standing in front of his cell.

"Platyborg?"  
"In the fle- I mean, in the metal!" Platyborg tried to give Perry a hug through the bars. "So, I see you've gotten into a little trouble since the last time I saw you."

Perry sighed. "Big trouble. I kind of destroyed O.W.C.A's main headquarters."  
"You little troublemaker."

"No, seriously."

"I know. Your ducky friend told me all about it."

Perry sighed. "I hate my father."

"Don't say that."

"Well, I do. He had to go and mess his whole life up. And if that weren't enough, he had to ruin mine too."  
"It's no picnic being evil." Platyborg insisted. "I swear, your father is regretting everything he's doing. It's just so hard to switch back. He needs a shock."

"It's not gonna be as easy shoving him into an electrical socket as it was for you."  
"Physical or mental. Like some big scary thing to set him straight. Come on, I'll get you outta here."

"No."

Platyborg stared at him. "Are you crazy?"

"If I set foot out of this cell before my year is up, they'll put me to sleep!"

Platyborg raised his eyebrow. "You're scared of a nap?"

"They'd GAS me."

"That's a little harsh. Maybe your dad's a little right about this O.W.C.A. It's not all unicorns and rainbows."  
"They're just trying to protect everyone."

Platyborg smiled. "And you're just going to let them fight this battle all themselves? Where's that sense of adventure?"

"I believe it went down the drain when I got busted. Actually, it went down the garbage disposal."

"Come on, Perry. You don't want to sit here all year. There's no cheese!"

"There's watermelon."

"But there's no CHEESE."

Perry rolled his eyes.

"What I'm saying is, they're going to have to fight against a whole group of bad guys without their best agent along with them. They'll probably get creamed. And that would only be because you stayed here in this cell, watching butterflies out the window and not eating cheese."

Perry smiled a little.

"Perry, you're awesome. Your father loves you, underneath all that evil. And you can help him get back to normal, like you did for me. But you can't just run away from them when they need you most. You gotta break the rules every so often."

Perry nodded slowly. "Okay then, get me outta here, Perry."

Platyborg grinned. He tore the bars out of the cell, and Perry climbed out.

* * *

"Agent P?" Monogram called.

He climbed down the stairs holding a pad and pencil, Carl close behind him.

"He might not want to write to you, sir." Carl whispered.

Monogram ignored him. "Agent P, I feel a little weird about how everything happened… If you have an explanation, I mean… You can write it… we can figure something out…"  
Silence.

"Agent P?"

Monogram approached cell five.

The bars had been pulled apart.

"Great googly moogly, Carl! He's escaped!"

* * *

Perry put his paws up on Phineas' leg.

"Silly platypus. Yogurt is for kids." Said Phineas, setting Perry back on the floor.

"Hungry." Perry protested. He jumped up and tried to bite Phineas' spoon.

"Naughty." Phineas scolded, blocking his spoon with his hand.

The doorbell rang.

Phineas ran to the door, thrusting it open. Monogram stood in the doorway.

Perry ran and hid under the table.

"Um… does this family own a platypus?" Monogram asked.

"Yeah! His name's Perry! ...Hey, where's Perry?"

Perry crawled father under the table.

"He always runs off somewhere during the day." Phineas said. "Hey, you look sorta familiar… didn't you bring Perry home once when he got in a fight?"

Monogram stood still for a moment. "Uh… gotta go! I think my wife's on fire!" He ran down the street.

"I remember that guy." Phineas said, shutting the door. "Oh, there you are, Perry."

Perry chattered happily.

* * *

"Faster, Perry!"

"Eesh, Platyborg!" Perry spit out mouthwash as he was pulled through the wilderness. "This a thing with you? Catch a guy in the middle of his morning routine and drag him at maximum speed?"

"You'll love me for it!"

"I seriously doubt that."

"Just trust me, Perry! Hey, nice facial goop."

"Oh, for crying out loud." Perry wiped the foam off his face.

"Don't do that. You oughta leave it on for at least five minutes. Otherwise you won't acquire that lifelong glow."

"How come my humor's so annoying coming from you?"

"Of course, such an incredible complexion can't actually stick around for a lifetime. You gotta put it on daily-"

"Platyborg."

"I'm just messin' with ya." Platyborg winked at him with his one eye.

Perry smiled a little. "Are we quite there?"

"Almost. Close your eyes."

"While I'm running?"  
"I'll drag you in the right direction."

Perry closed his eyes. A branch hit him in the head.

"Oh yeah. Duck." Platyborg said, a little late.

After a few moments, they stopped.

"Now look."

Perry opened his eyes. A great yellow mountain was before them.

The mountain looked like a bunch of different porous shapes piled on top of each other.

"What is it?"

Platyborg's eye was shining. "Isn't it beautiful?"

"I repeat: What is it?"

"It's fresh. I have no idea where it came from, but I'm so happy I found it."

"It's certainly… unique."  
Platyborg beamed at him. "I say we call it Cheese Mountain."

Perry stared at him. "You're saying…"

"Yep. A pile of cheese!"

"Wow… where'd it come from?"  
"Heck if I know! I'm just happy it's here!"

Perry stared at him. Platyborg did look… really happy.

"You really like cheese, don't you?"

Platyborg looked away. "I believe it may have been the last thing I ate before… you know…"

"Before you became a cyborg. Have you ever tried to see if you could eat?"

"I never felt hungry, so I just guessed I might not need to. I suppose I could… Maybe I could chew it up for flavor and spit it out."

"I didn't mean to upset ya."  
"You didn't." Platyborg stared off into the distance.

"It's melting." Perry said after a minute.

"Huh?" Platyborg snapped back to attention.

"It's melting down! I think from the sun!"

Platyborg squinted. "There's something above it." His blue eye glowed. "…That's no sun. That's a machine. Someone's melting Cheese Mountain!"

Without warning, Platyborg blasted away. Perry ran after him, but could hardly keep up. That cyborg had speed.

When Perry finally caught up, Cheese Mountain had stopped melting. Next to it was a large machine.

He looked up at its peak. Platyborg, Dennis and Percy were at the top. He couldn't hear what they were saying.

Perry began to climb the cheese. As he got higher, the voices became more audible.

"Why would you want to melt cheese?" Platyborg was saying.

"I told you, we're making giant tacos." That was Dennis.

"For what?"

"It's a trap, okay, metalthing? The head of stupid O.W.C.A likes tacos. Once we have him, we have the whole organization. Until YOU had to come and destroy our cheese melter!"

"Dennis, that's Perry!" Percy was talking now.

"It's some stupid robot!"

"I know my son. What's wrong with you, Perry? Why is there a tube in your neck? Did O.W.C.A do this to you?"

"No, my master did. I rebelled against him though. BUT YOU ARE NOT TAKING CHEESE MOUNTAIN!"

Perry groped for the peak and heaved himself up. "I'm fine, dad!"

Percy looked at him. "Who's this?"

"That's Perry."

Percy folded his arms.

"His name's Perry. He's not me. I mean, not exactly me. He just goes by Platyborg."

Dennis glared at Percy. "Great, you have twins. Now we have to deal with two little brats."

"I do not have twins, and my son is NOT a brat!" Snapped Percy.

Dennis rolled his eyes. "And you should know? You spent, what, two days with him as a mindless animal? I actually had to experience his HOUSE… first two stupid kids try to take my carrots, and then this teenager puts me in a dress…"  
"Cheese Mountain is MY property!" Platyborg shouted.

Dennis scowled. "Oh, QUIT with the CHEESE already, you walking hunk of JUNKPILE METAL!"

Platyborg smiled meanly. "Oh, you just had to, didn't you?"

Quick as a flash, he pummeled Dennis with his metal hand. Dennis flew off the side of Cheese Mountain.

"CHEESE RULES!" Platyborg yelled.

Percy sighed. "Well. I'd better go get that rabbit." He smiled at Perry. "Good boy for entering that code. I'm proud of you."

Percy began climbing down.

Platyborg cautiously bit off a tiny piece of cheese and chewed it.

"Can you swallow?" Perry asked excitedly.

Platyborg spit the cheese out. "No good. I don't have a natural throat. But man, does that taste wonderful!" He bit another hunk off and began chewing happily. "I don't need to swallow, anyways! I'm not hungry at all. I just needed to taste this stuff again."

"Well, if you ever find a cake mountain, call me up. I'm happy for you, buddy."

"Thame here!" Platyborg said with his mouth full.

* * *

"Perry!"

Perry put down the apple he had picked from a park tree.

"I'm so proud of you!" Doofenshmirtz came up behind him and gave him a big hug. "You ARE evil! I heard you brought down your agency! You little rebel!"

Angrily, Perry pushed his nemesis away.

"Tell me what inspired you, Perry. Was it me? I always wanted to be a role model."

Perry slammed his tail against the ground, his main way of expressing anger.

"Oh, Perry, we have to celebrate! Let's go out to lunch."

Perry gave a low growl.

"And afterwards we can go up to my building and drop water balloons on unsuspecting passerby!"

Perry was very confused. How had Doofenshmirtz recognized him without his fedora?  
Suddenly a unicorn pranced by, wearing a clown hat.

Perry rolled his eyes. "I'm asleep again." He told Doofenshmirtz.

"Yes, yes you are."

Perry smiled. "Wear a tutu."

A princess dress appeared on Doofenshmirtz.

"Eh, close."  
Perry woke up then.

He was back in Phineas' bed, Phineas asleep next to him.

What did that dream mean, anyway?

He felt lost, having been fired from the agency. Monogram had already come looking for him. He'd be in serious trouble if the O.W.C.A caught him, no doubt about that.

But he felt he had to protect everyone as well.

Perry sighed. If he hadn't tampered with his father, none of this would have happened.

Perry stuck his head under the covers. He wanted to just be normal again. It would be nice to be a mindless, whipped-cream loving platypus that just sat around with his owners all day.

Perry thought a moment. Maybe he could erase his memory, like they'd done to his father.

He'd go back to the way he was before he'd been trained.

Was he crazy?

Perry ambled over to Phineas and lay down next to him.

If only it were easier.

* * *

Perry woke up again after a dream about a giant cow that liked a mountain.

Standing in front of him were Agent E and Agent B.

"I'm asleep again." Perry murmured, still a little drowsy.

"No you aren't." Agent E said coldly.

Perry blinked.

"You escaped. We located you. And you know what happens to agents who resist arrest."

"Wear a tutu." Perry mumbled.

"You're not DREAMING!"

"Yes, I am."

"No matter. In a moment you'll get to be in a land full of dreams."

"And cake." Perry added sleepily.

"…And cake." Agent B rolled his eyes.

"And cheese for Platyborg."

Neither security agent responded.

Perry yawned, beginning to become more conscious. "Why am I here?"

"Don't worry, you won't be here long." Agent E held up a tube of something and turned to Agent B. "Help me get this in his mouth."

"DON'T TOUCH HIM!"

Agent E sighed. "We've discussed this before, Agent. He's dangerous."

"Monogram SAID you weren't allowed to hurt him! He said there's an explanation!"

"No pain involved. He swallows it, bam, doesn't know what hit him." Agent B said.

Pansy shoved the huge bulldog out of the way. "Oh, what do you know. Get out of that chair, Perry. Monogram's not gonna let these two thugs hurt you."

"Huh?"

Pansy grabbed Perry and began dragging him out of the room. "You two come along too, so you don't try anything again."

"Agent, please try to remember. I'm in charge of YOU." Agent E said, following anyway.

Pansy glared at him. "Oh, are you? All I'm saying is, my son's off the hook. So stop scaring him with your huge hulking presence."

* * *

"Yes, Agent P is allowed to return." Monogram explained to Agent E. All the agents were gathered in one room. "Agent D explained the whole situation to me. Someone threatened his owners. He hadn't wanted to do it."

A few of the other animal agents glared at Perry. Perry hung his head. He'd forgotten that some of the agents might be mad at him.

Monogram handed Perry his fedora. Perry took it after a pause.

He was happy to have it back. Phineas had, in the past, just called it a "little hat", but it had much more meaning to Perry. It was a kind of symbol to him.

"Welcome back." Monogram said happily.

Some of the agents mumbled a welcome.

"You all would make fabulous cheerleaders. Just saying." Pansy said curtly.

Perry tried to look at Devon, but Devon kept his eyes focused on the floor. Carrie was standing by the mean-looking group. Always following the crowd.

At least Darren was smiling at him.

"I hope they don't give me the cold shoulder all day." Perry whispered.

"I'll pound some sense into them." Pansy offered.

"Not necessary."

"Security agents, I now will need you to check with me before you put an agent to sleep. We can't risk something like that happening again." Monogram was saying.

Pansy smiled and waved at Agent E, who scowled back at her.

Perry realized that he'd never seen the security agents smile. He couldn't ever be promoted to one, because of his size, but although the title was a huge honor, the job must not be very fun.

They basically had to stand guard all day, and were the ones who arrested agents, or caught agents if they tried escaping the prison.

After Monogram was done talking to Agent E, he approached Pansy.

"I trained you. I taught you everything you know now. Why do you sass me?"

"Did you, now? Isn't there a saying?" Pansy paused as though thinking. "Those who can, do. Those who can't, teach."  
"Agents must respond to orders at all times."

"No one orders me around."

"This is serious, Agent. This organization is in grave danger. Unless you can have some respect for those at a higher rank than you, you'll be less help than your mate."

Pansy looked bored. "I can take care of myself, Ernie."

Perry started to laugh. Ernie. What an odd name.

"It's ERNEST. And you must title me Agent E."

"Oh, are you a book I'm writing now?"

"I give up!" Agent E shouted. He walked away.

"Why are you so hard on him?" Perry asked.

"Oh, he only tried to kill my son. Nothing personal." Pansy put her arm around him.

"You don't have to be so possessive of me…"

Pansy frowned. "It's just hard. One day you think some greater force gave you a miracle, the next you find out you're a mother…"

"Darren's waving me over. I'm gonna go, okay?"

Pansy's gaze softened. "All right." She released him and he started off.

"Wear your mittens!" She called.

Perry turned and stared at her.

Pansy shook her head. "It's a joke, kid."

"Oh. Don't worry. I know that sense of humor. It just sounds funny coming from you."

* * *

"Can I ask you a few questions?" Carrie asked, holding a pen and paper.

"Thure, ith thou donth minth thlurry anthers." Perry tried to respond.

Leave it to Carrie to pick the most inconvenient time to stage an interview. How was she gonna understand him when he had Monogram's hands in his mouth?  
Perry understood why they had well checkups. No sense fighting a nemesis if you had a bad leg. He also understood the eye exams. Agents needed good sight to be successful.

What he didn't understand was the dental exam. If he happened to lose a tooth when fighting Doofenshmirtz, it wouldn't faze him at all.

Carrie looked at her paper. "Okay. Here's the first question. Did you have fun when you betrayed the agency?"

Perry almost bit Monogram's glove in anger. "No!"

Carrie scribbled the answer down. "Okay. And why did you do it?"

"My ittiu faah threaeen to hat Inia an Er!"  
Carrie began writing again. "My… ittieuh…" she gave him a confused look. "How do you spell 'fa-ah'?"

"Fa-her!"

"Faher?"

Oh, for crying out loud. Perry sat up and yanked Monogram's hand out of his mouth. "FATHER. My idiot FATHER threatened to hurt Phineas and Ferb!"

His pronunciation was useless unless he could chatter his teeth. Just the throat noise made the words all fuzzy.

"Okay. My ittieuh faher. Father…"

"Don't write it twice!"

"Huh?"

"Carrie. Never work for a newspaper. Just never."

"I don't."  
"Our society thanks you." Perry leaned back down in the chair and allowed Monogram to examine him again.

"So, what's it like to have half the agency hate you, and the other half want to kick you out?"

"Carie! GE OU!"

"…Ge ou…" Carrie wrote.

Perry pointed to the door.

"Oh! Get out! That makes much more sense." Carrie said, writing it down as she left.

Perry slumped down in his chair and sulked.

"You okay, Agent P?" Monogram asked.

Perry didn't try to respond.

* * *

Perry scarfed down his platypus food. He'd forgotten to eat that morning, and he was starved.

He started hiccupping. A bite of food fell onto the floor.

Wow. He could make rug art without getting sick to his stomach first.

"Don't forget to pack for our hiking trip tomorrow!" Linda said from the dining table.

Perry continued eating, even though this was the first time he'd heard about the trip. In order to appear mindless, he had to look as though the family's conversation was just random noises to him.

"Can we please take Perry?" Phineas begged. "He'll get so lonely by himself."

"We can't take him on a hiking trip." Lawrence said.

"He won't be alone. He'll be in a kennel. There will be lots of animals there to play with." Linda said gently.

Perry hiccupped again and scowled at Linda. He didn't want to stay in some crummy kennel. He'd be happier at home alone, watching his soap operas… so long as he wasn't needed at the agency, of course.

"I'll miss him, though." Phineas slumped down in his chair, and Ferb looked sad.

Perry took a big bite of food and walked over to them. He jumped on Phineas' lap.

"Aww, I love you, Perry." Phineas gave him a big hug. Perry hiccupped again, and his food chunk splattered onto Candace's plate.

"EEEWWW! MOM, PHINEAS JUST GAVE PERRY THE HEIMLICH AND IT GOT ALL OVER MY DINNER!"

"Sorry, Candace. I didn't know Perry had food in his mouth."

"Dinner art." Perry chattered proudly.

* * *

Perry flipped over his water bowl again.

The kennel lady groaned and opened the cage. She took the bowl out, refilled it, and put it back in.

Perry was delighted. Here was someone who was having a worse time than he was.

The kennel cages were small. Perry had room to breathe, of course, but he couldn't do the Macarena.

And what fun was that?

He'd need to plan an escape route. He would get taken out in an hour or so for "playtime", but he'd get put in a little playpen for that.

Perry could jump out of that playpen in two seconds flat, but he'd have to do it when no one was watching.

The sooner he was out, though, the better.

Perry rolled over and made his largest, most irresistible puppy eyes.

"Aren't you a little cutie?" Said one of the kennel workers. Her nametag said "Playtime Patty" on it.

Platytime Patty opened the cage and took Perry out, setting him in the playpen. "There are lots of fun toys in here. It will be VERY fun for you! Have fun!"

"If you say the word 'fun' one more time, I'll lose it." Perry chirped.

Playtime Patty turned her back.

This was it.

Perry took a flying leap from the pen and ran out the door. He heard screams behind him.

"Sorry, Funlady!" He called back.

Perry was back home a few minutes later. He lay down on the couch and started his show.

He loved this arrangement. Phineas and Ferb were the best thing he had, but when they were gone, he didn't have to feel terrible. Sure, he missed them at night, but he could just lie around and be himself all day. And he didn't have to worry about shaving before they woke up.

His video phone rang. Perry growled and muted his show.

Dennis' image appeared on the screen. "I thought you'd never answer."

"I'm not helping you." Perry snapped. "I did my part. I inputted the code."

Dennis smiled. "Yes, well, the Rogues have run into a bit of a… well, jam as you might say. And not the kind you put on bread."

"I'm not stupid, Dennis."

"Thing is, we've invented a little machine that can guarantee that we'll win this struggle. But we need someone to test it on. No one wanted to volunteer. And then I said, 'You know, let's just call up our dear friend Perry the platypus.' Because I was VERY certain you'd be willing to help."

"I'd much rather you get over here so I can kick your butt."

"I'm not going anywhere near you."

"Then I'm gonna come over there and kick your butt."

Dennis glared at him. "Care to say more?"

"Dennis, I swear, if you threaten my owners again, I'll punch you out."

"Will you?" Dennis said sharply. "Can your owners fly? Because if they can't, there's little chance they'd survive… if you chose not to accept my little offer."

Perry clenched his teeth. "Details."

"Only will take about a day. Just so we can ensure that the mechanism works. No side effects, I mean. It makes agents… stronger."

Perry didn't respond.

"Just want to ensure that it won't blow anyone up. I'll see you tomorrow, five sharp, by the old statue of the guy of no significance whatsoever."

The doorbell rang.

"Kay. I gotta go, the Slushie Burger guy's probably here with my French fries."

Dennis stared at him through the video screen. "You're eating… popcorn! Why would you want fries with popcorn?"

"Beats me, but I do. I'll see you then. You promise you won't hurt the kids."

"I give you my word."

Perry shut off his phone and stormed over to the door. He wished the Rogues would just leave him alone. Why did he appeal to them so much?

He'd never willingly help them.

But he had to protect his owners.

He loved them more than anything in the world.

* * *

"Good. You showed up."

Perry rolled his eyes. "Like I had a choice. Can we just get this over with?"

Percy stood a few steps away, holding a ray gun in his paws. He looked almost… afraid.

Dennis took the ray from Percy and began adjusting the controls. "Just making sure I don't accidentally fry you into a cheese stick. Not that I'd care if I did. It would be nice to ensure this think works safely, though."

"It won't…" Percy began.

"Not lethal, I keep telling you. Maybe a little painful, but the worst that can happen is he gets paralyzed."

Percy didn't look reassured. "Shouldn't we make sure that…"

Dennis glared at Percy. "Look. We either win this battle or we don't. If this brat wasn't related to you, you'd have no problem with this. Wimp."

Percy stiffened. "Proceed, then."

"Like I said," Dennis turned back to Perry. "This could sting a little. But just keep your mouth shut. I don't need psychotic screaming bringing the whole town over here."

"Psychotic screaming shouldn't be a problem if it only stings." Perry shot back.

Dennis sighed. "Fine. I believe the word is horribly painful. But if this works this time like we suspect it will, we'll be able to tweak it so that you don't even feel the ray at all."

"What does it do, anyway?"

"I told you over the phone, it makes you stronger. Ten times strength, ten times speed. And five times better senses. The Rogues will be unbeatable."  
Perry scowled.

"All right, I've got it in position." Dennis looked over at Percy. "Any objection?"

Percy didn't meet Perry's gaze. "None whatsoever."  
Dennis fired. The ray was knocked out of his hand in an instant. It shot a tree, which grew to about ten times its previous size.

Pansy had him pinned down to the ground. She was growling at Percy.

"My son is NOT a guinea pig!"

Percy approached her. "Our son, Pansy. Let Dennis get up."  
"I don't think so! You dare you call yourself a father? Just standing around watching while your son gets fried?"

Percy smiled at her. "You're smart now, Pan."

"DON'T call me that. I hate you. You ruined everything."

Percy tried to hug her. Pansy shoved him to the ground. "To think that from all the platypuses I could have befriended I chose you. It makes me sick!"

Percy was furious. "We were making him stronger."

"Sure. His natural strength isn't good enough for you. Nothing is, is it?"

"What?"

"Nothing's ever good for you! You had a family, you were able to live happily, you loved cake! But no, you remember a little fact and suddenly you're willing to throw that all away just so you can get revenge. Well, nothing good comes from it. And if you aren't going to realize that, then you can just forget that I ever knew you." Pansy grabbed Perry's arm and started dragging him away.

Dennis was coughing. Percy just looked murderous.

"Thanks…" Perry began.

"And YOU!" Pansy snapped, giving him an icy stare. "Didn't you KNOW they WEREN'T going to give you candy? They could have killed you! And you just deliberately went up to them and volunteered to be their lab rat!"

"They threatened…"  
"The agency, Monogram, whatever! Those people can take care of themselves. You can't just go around putting your life on a limb for everyone else's. Do you understand?" Pansy's eyes were tearing up. "You're the best thing I've ever had, Perry. I wouldn't be able to live with myself if you got hurt."

"I feel that same way about my owners. That's why I went. Dennis was going to hurt them."  
"Loving owners is the whole reason your father's in this mess."

"I'm different."  
Pansy turned to him. Her eyes were glassy. "Maybe you are. But I don't want to find out the hard way."

"You won't, I promise…. Platyborg said dad's probably not… completely bad."

Pansy didn't answer.

"Like, maybe he's still got some of his old self in him."

Pansy smiled a little. "I am glad I met him."

"He gave you a friend. Before he went crazy, he was your friend."

Pansy gave Perry a hug. "He gave me you guys."

Perry blushed.

"It's a good thing I got there when I did." Pansy said, glaring at him again. "Don't you EVER do anything like that again, you hear me?"

"I can't guarantee I won't."

"Marshmallows are yum." Pansy said after a long pause.

* * *

"Glad you came. Monogram says he found out the Rogues are going to try and set something up here in Danville Forest." Darren said.

"Not a problem." Perry climbed up a tree and looked around.

"Hey, Perry." Darren grunted, forcing himself up after him. Ducks weren't great tree climbers. "I was thinking… you know… Phineas and Ferb could…"  
"No."

"But they did such a good job last time! Phineas even saved your life!"

"I'm not putting them through that again. It was too confusing for them."

Darren sighed. "Are you mad at them or something?"

Perry turned to face him. "Heck no. I never get annoyed with them."  
Darren raised an eyebrow.

"Okay… maybe that one time when Ferb was six and used me as a chair to watch Pinhead Pierre."

Darren folded his wings.

"Fine. And when Phineas was eight, he wanted to see what my skin looked like so he shaved all my fur off. But that's all. Other than those two times, I'm good with them."  
"They'd love to help."

"They already got their memories wiped once. I don't think I could stand saying goodbye a second time." Perry looked back across the forest. "I love those guys."

Darren nodded slowly.

"Heya, Per!" A platypus jumped up on the tree branch. It shook violently. "How's stuff?"

Darren looked confused. "Well, all platypuses DO look alike, I guess."

"Who are you?" Perry asked. It was like looking in a mirror. Sure, when Perry was in his pet form he couldn't be told apart from every other platypus, but this guy wasn't like that. He was on two legs, and his brown eyes were completely focused on Perry's face.

The platypus looked hurt. "You mean… you don't remember me? You didn't even care enough to send a postcard?"

"Eh…"

"It's me, Larry! Come on. You HAVE to remember. We hatched outta the same egg!" Larry scooped him up in a huge hug. "You're my lil' twin brother!"

"How can I have hatched out of the same egg?" Perry said calmly. "Isn't it a 'one-platypus-per-egg' thing?"  
"We're special."  
Perry pushed Larry away. "Sorry. It's just… how could you be my twin? Mom doesn't even know you exist!"

"I was stolen at birth by a magical elf and taken to the land of angry corn people."  
Perry cocked his head, confused.

"I'm joking. Truth is, I climbed the fence and ran off. Some nice guy in the O.W.C.A recruited me. When I heard that Danville's O.W.C.A was in danger, I rushed right over. So, who's leading this attack, anyway?"

"Dennis. A rogue agent."  
"He's officially toast. I call dibs on winning this."

Darren spoke again. "Dibs? How can you win a battle by calling dibs on it?"

"Ever since I invented it. I can also call dibs on you if I want. But I won't."

Perry smiled. He really liked this guy. He smiled at Darren, who appeared to be steaming. Darren wasn't too fond of overconfident people. They made him nervous.

"Well." Darren said. "Maybe you oughta take a step back and let the more experienced agents handle this. Like me and Perry."

"Experienced? You two are hangin' out in a treehouse. Branches are fun. Watch." Larry began to jump up and down on the tree branch, which was bending dangerously.

"Make! Him! Stop!" Darren hissed.

Perry hung onto the branch tightly. "Don't break it. We'll fall."

"J-j-j-j-jump-ang! Hey, I invented a song. We should all sing it."

The branch snapped. The agents began to plummet to the ground.

Larry grabbed onto Perry and Darren and snapped on his parachute. They floated down.

"Mom'll be glad you're here." Perry said. "And surprised."

"Who wouldn't be?" Darren said under his breath.

They landed on a pile of leaves. Larry gave Perry another hug.

"I haven't seen you since you were a little furless thing whose eyes weren't even open! I missed ya!"

* * *

The agents and Perry's siblings were all together in a small enclosure in the woods.

Perry sat with his family. The platypuses were begging Pansy to tell them the story.

"The magical egg one!" Paige said.

"That one is the most eggiest!" Said Pablo.

Pansy squinted. "Okay… well… one day in the spring, I was getting fat…"

"You're telling it wrong." Protested Little Billy. "It goes like: 'one day in the spring, Percy noticed I was getting fat…' Tell it that way."  
Pansy sighed. "And then one night…"

"Magic night! One magic night!" Said Peter.

"The moonlight shone down on the eggs, and they began to hatch."

"They magically broke open." Said Patty.

"You forgot the story!" Pablo accused. "How could you forget the way the magic egg story goes?"

Pansy tried to ignore him. "And once all the babies had hatched, they were with me in the zoo."  
"That is not the right story." Paige said sadly. "It is not magical. And what does 'hatched' mean? Does it mean pie?"

"It was magical for me." Pansy said softly.

"It was once." Pablo pouted. "Until you forgetted the way the story goed."

"It didn't even sound like yummy." Said Peter. "I wonder what yummy sounds like."

"Probably like the way whipped cream sounds." Little Billy said. The platypuses disbanded.

Pansy put her head in her hands.

"It's still the same story." Perry said. "And I like it."

"It was rad." Larry agreed.

"It's different." Pansy admitted. "I don't think of it the same way now."

"That's good though, isn't it?" Perry asked. "I mean, you know that we're related to you."

"Knowledge can be gifts to some but burdens to others." Pansy said. She stood up and walked away.

"Cheerful." Larry commented. "That girl brings sunshine to every street."

"I've never seen her like this."  
"I haven't seen Pen around. How's she doing?"

Perry shrugged. "Mom told me dad threw her against a wall and she hasn't seen her since."

"I'll call her." Larry began pressing buttons on his video phone. "That's funny, she isn't answering."

"Maybe she's busy."  
"Doubt it. Penny'll drop whatever she's doing to chat with muah. She's awesome that way. Fighting a nemesis and she gets a ring, bam, she ties him up in a second flat and answers."

Perry stared at the phone. An image came into focus.

"Oh good, she answered." Larry said happily.

"Larry, I-" Penny began.

"Who's that?" Percy asked from the background. The phone went blank.

"She's with dad." Perry gasped. "We gotta get her outta there!"

* * *

Perry handed Pansy a grappling hook. "You sure you know where she is?"

"I tracked her." Pansy said.

"Want me to come?"

"No. I need to do this. You need to stay here where it's safe."

Pablo ran into the room. His tiny blue paws were covered in flour, and a trail of white powder was behind him.

"Pansy! Pansy! I made pancakies!" He said happily.

A burning smell was coming from the hideout's kitchen.

"Oh crud. Take care of that, will you?" Pansy asked, running out the door.

Perry followed Pablo into the kitchen.

The entire stove was covered in pancake batter, and all the burners were turned on. Batter was dripping onto the floor. Paige was licking it up while more batter plopped on her head. The batter that was covering the burners was turning brown.

"Gee, Pablo, they're called pancakes, so… you need a PAN, right?"

"No, because pancakie is big without a pan."

"Yes, but… they're going to be hard to get off the stove. And not ALL of the batter can exactly be considered a pancake."

"You say big words. The pancakies are almost done. Then we will turn off big magic heaty things and eat them."

"Eating pancakelz!" Paige agreed, lifting her head from her batter.

Perry switched the stove off. "Okay then. Listen. Big big mess. Needs to be cleaned."

"We made normal cake, too." Said Paige.

"Lovely." Perry groaned. He opened the oven. The metal bars that were there to hold up baking trays had some cooked cake batter on it, and the floor of the oven had even more burnt batter.

"You need a pan to put the cake in, guys."

"But it was not a pancakie." Pablo insisted. "It was normal cake."

"There is nothing normal about that cake." Perry stood back up. "Come on, cleaning time. I'll show you how to make pancakes the right way."

Pansy broke into the hut.

Penny was sitting on the ground, staring at her crushed video phone. There was no sign of Percy.

"Penny…"  
Penny looked up. "Mom? You're…"

"I was trained. What's going on? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine… I think…" Penny looked around. "The color is amazing."

"What color?"

"It's like life in HD…"

"Penny!"

Penny shrugged. "It's no big deal, mom. I crushed my phone because I wasn't used to my strength. Dad just used a ray."

"You let him?!"

"He threatened my host family."

"See? These pancakes are much better." Perry said, handing one down to Pablo, who gobbled it up in a second.

"It tastes like yummy!" Pablo said happily.

"How do you know what the taste is? You hardly chewed it! You inhaled it!" Perry went over to the fridge. "I'll get the syrup."

"And whipped cream!" Paige said.

Pablo began bouncing around. "Whipped cream and tennis balls and cake and cookies and pie!"

"And alpacas!" Paige started bouncing too.

"And coffee teddy bears and string beans and fluffy!"

"I'm sorry. I'm not following that conversation." Perry said sarcastically.

"What's going on in here?" Darren asked, coming into the kitchen.

"My older brother had an epic fail trying to make pancakes. I spent practically the whole morning cleaning up. What's new with you?"

"I just found out that the Rogues have created a new ray." Darren said proudly.

"Let's rephrase that: What's new?" Perry asked again.

"But this time it's working." Darren insisted. "Apparently they got a new test subject."  
Perry froze. "Wait… I was supposed to be… or they'd…"  
"I only saw a bit of the name. Started with a P."

Perry pushed past Darren and ran outside. His fury was hard to control. He'd tear Dennis apart. He'd maim him so bad that he'd have to look behind him if he wanted to see where he was going.

Perry leapt inside Dennis' usual hiding place and held out his specialized gun. He was only supposed to use it if attacked by a human or if he had no other option in a situation, but he didn't care. He'd blast that heartless creature to the moon.

"You wretched excuse for an animal. You ruthless BEAST!" He shouted.

Dennis was sitting on a chair, reading a book. He gave Perry a bored look. "What are you talking about, Flynn-Fletcher?"

"You hurt my owners."  
Darren looked back at his book. "Did I? Funny, I don't seem to remember doing anything of the sort. Last time I saw triangle boy and green hair boy, I was being held out to them so they could see I was a bunny. No pain involved."

"Admit it. You couldn't test your stupid contraption on me, so you turned on them!"

Dennis rolled his eyes. "You're looking through the wrong box of markers, my friend. Why test my machine on some stupid human that wouldn't hurt a fly when I could test it on an enemy? Believe me, I didn't touch a hair on either of their heads."

"You're hard to trust, Dennis." Perry held his finger to the trigger.

"That's the thanks I get? You're going to blast me into nonexistence? No need to get worked up. I got a test subject, so I'm happy. The subject wasn't you, so your idiot mom is happy. Your owners are fine, so you should be happy."

Perry lowered his gun. "You swear?"

"Dennis' honor. I will admit, you may be a little… angry if you do find out who my test subject was. But before you become psycho again, just know that the experiment worked and the subject is alive and well."

Perry set the dial on his gun back to the OFF position.

"Get out." Dennis snapped. "Go back to your agency. I believe you have a fight you need to plan for. A fight you are going to lose."

Perry turned and strode away.

* * *

"You let them do it on you?" Perry demanded.

Penny shrugged. "It wasn't so bad."

"They were supposed to test it on ME!"

Perry didn't know why he was so angry about it. He should have been happy that it wasn't him or Phineas.

"Well, you don't have to be the hero ALL the time." Penny mumbled. "I did what I had to do."

Perry sighed, trying to let his anger out. Why was he mad?

Penny sat down at the kitchen table. Pablo and Paige were still eating pancakes.

"Those kids are so lucky to have a pet like you." Penny said after a minute. "You're willing to do anything to keep them safe."

Perry slammed his tail against the floor.

"I think that's why you're angry. You feel like you failed them because you didn't do what you had to do to protect them." Penny continued.

"I don't need you to tell me how I feel."

"I am a platypus." Said Pablo. "A magical fairytale platypus."

A big blast shook the room. A huge hole appeared in the kitchen.

Penny stood up.

Pablo and Paige began running around in circles. "The world is gonna blow up! The world is gonna blow up!"

Dennis walked through the hole, closely followed by Percy and many other Rogues. He smiled at them.

"Oh goody. This should be some nice competition."

Penny ran at him. He dodged her at the last second, and she attacked a rogue zebra instead.

Dennis leapt on Perry with amazing speed and began hitting him.

Perry tried to fight back, but he couldn't get up. He and Dennis used to be pretty evenly matched. Dennis would always win a fight if there weren't carrots involved, of course, but Dennis had never punched THAT hard.

Perry reached behind him and grabbed the table leg to pull himself up, but Dennis slammed a chair on his head.

The chair broke. Perry fell to the ground.

"My apologies to Darren." He gasped. "That chair fighting technique is actually quite effective."

"Save your breath!" Dennis snapped, jumping on Perry again.

Perry felt a little dizzy from the chair, but he stood up and shoved Dennis out of the way.

"How amazing. My little ray works. Now I'm ten times as unbeatable as I was before."

The world was spinning, but Perry had been trained to keep thinking straight even while he was in pain. He crawled over to the refrigerator.

"You can't take a snack break!" Dennis shouted, running after him.

Perry opened the fridge and grabbed a carrot. He held it out to Dennis.

Dennis stared at it, and then tossed it aside. "I don't get distracted anymore, Perry. Face it. You're beaten."

He punched Perry again. Perry flew across the room and hit his head on the wall.

Now he wasn't only dizzy, but there were blue unicorns dancing. They all were singing about pancakes.

"Pretty…" Perry murmured.

He was yanked up. "Snap out of it!" Penny hissed. "Get up!"

Perry didn't feel like getting up.

"Keep fighting!"

He couldn't fight while the world was being a merry-go-round.

He could kind of make out Carrie scratching up a cheetah and Darren whacking Percy with a chair.

"Tell Darren his chair is effective." Perry said drowsily. He stood up and shook himself off. Then he freed himself from Penny's grip and jumped on Dennis.

Dennis turned around with lightning speed, grabbed Perry, and slammed him against the wall multiple times.

Penny knocked Dennis out of the way. Perry fell down.

The world stopped spinning. Images flashed through his mind. They were images of him. And Phineas and Ferb. And some Zebra that was calling him Kevin.

He tried desperately to breathe. He heard the fight going on around him.

"Perry…" Penny was saying.

Perry shook his head slowly. He knew what was happening.

He was dying.

"Not… here." He said.

"What?"

"Not… here… home… Phineas… Ferb…"

"Perry, you're fine. You probably just got hit too hard."

"Please…"

"They can't see you like this!"

"It… won't matter…"

Penny picked him up. She seemed to blast through the warring agents without any trouble.

* * *

Perry managed to heave himself through the pet door. He flopped on the ground and closed his eyes. He still had his fedora on, but he didn't care.

His breathing was getting shorter. Dennis was too powerful. The agency would probably fall.

"Perry?"

Perry opened one eye. Phineas and Ferb were staring at him.

"Perry, you're all banged up. Are you okay? Why are you wearing a hat?"

Perry reached into his fur pocket, even though it took great effort, and stuck Piggy Woo in his mouth. Piggy Woo was the translatorinator Doofenshmirtz had made him.

"The O.W.C.A needs… you. Please… take my collar… when I…" Perry swallowed. "It's too late for me. You can do this."

"Perry talks?" Ferb said, his eyes wide.

"Apparently more than you." Phineas said jokingly. Then he turned back to Perry. "You okay, boy?"

"Too late… for me…"

Phineas seemed to understand. He sat down and held Perry in his lap. Perry continued to struggle with breathing.

"I love you…" Perry said quietly.

"Ferb, remember that platypus curer we built last week?" Phineas asked.

Ferb nodded.

"Well, we better start rebuilding it. I know what we're gonna do today."

* * *

Perry was recuperating.

Slowly but surely, he felt life returning to him. He was getting warmer. It was easier to breathe. His bruises were fading away.

He purred softly.

Phineas was standing outside of the platypus curer, holding the note Perry had given him. It had all the information about the last time they'd been together, why Perry hadn't told them about the agency, and about their memory wipes.

Just to ensure that Phineas didn't get as emotional as he had last time.

"Only a few more minutes left." Phineas said. "You were beat up pretty bad."

Perry didn't respond. He didn't like using Piggy Woo too much. It was weird to hear his… voice instead of his usual chattering.

Finally, Perry was beginning to feel normal again. He stood up and shook himself off.

Then he leapt to the floor.

"That better?" Phineas asked.

Perry nodded. His owners rocked.

How would he ever beat Dennis? Several agents had been severely injured back when Dennis hadn't been so strong.

And now he was unstoppable. Sure, they had Penny, but most of the Rogues had also been shot by the ray.

The odds were basically ten billion to nothing.

"How can we help?" Phineas asked.

Perry sighed. These guys were always willing to get into an adventure. And last time, it had worked out pretty good.

And Perry needed help.

But he couldn't get them into this again. They were up against an extremely powerful animal. They'd been up against Platyborg, and he wasn't half as strong as Dennis was now.

"I trust you fully. But this is way too big."

Phineas looked devastated.

"You could get hurt…" Perry hated when Phineas looked at him like that.

"Well, maybe we can help without being there. Ferb and I built a robot last week that we can control from the house. It's really big."

Perry cocked his head. "That would be pretty good, actually…"

"We'll crush the enemy!" Phineas cried, pumping his fist in the air. Then he stopped. "Just so we're clear and don't wind up crushing the ally, who ARE the enemies?"

"All the ones that are beating up the ones in fedoras." Perry said, laughing a little.

"Okay. So, who do we get the angriest at?" Phineas said.

Perry gave him a confused look.

"Who beat my pet up?" Phineas rephrased.

"Dennis. White rabbit. You know, the one Candace had earlier in the summer."

"Wow. He looked so innocent. Oh well. Ferb and I will start up the robot. Where's this fight taking place?"

"Danville forest."

"We'll be there. In spirit, you know. Actually, in form of a robot."

Perry stuck Piggy Woo back in his pocket and gave his owners a huge hug.

* * *

When Perry got back to the woods, it was in chaos.

Trees were burning. The Agency's hideout had collapsed. Agents were fighting Rogues. And Pansy was in tears, screaming at Agent B about something.

Perry ran to her.

"Where's my baby? Where's Billy?" Pansy was yelling.

"I told you, he's good as gone. Consider yourself lucky you got out of there."

"You DRAGGED me out! I was going back to get him!"

"You would have been smashed."

"I am NOT leaving him behind!" Pansy shouted. She began digging through the rubble.

Agent B pulled her away. "Leave it. You need to focus."

"That's my baby!" Pansy wailed.

Perry crawled under a board and squeezed into the flattened hideout. It was a tight fit. Perry hated having claustrophobia, especially since his work called for squishing into tiny spaces quite often.

"Billy?" He called. "Little Billy? Are you there?"

"I am hiding." Little Billy called from a corner. "You will never find me."

"Well, I hope I do, because it's not safe for you in here."

"It is safer than outside where bad animals beat good animals up."

"C'mon, Billy. Pansy's worried about you. She'll keep you safe."

"I am scared."

"I am too. Come on. I'll take you somewhere safer than here." Perry pushed aside a remnant of the fridge. Little Billy was curled up behind it.

"You promise, magical platypus?"

"Let's crawl out of here. Follow me."  
They emerged a few moments later. Pansy grabbed Billy and squeezed him tightly.

"He's scared." Perry said.

"Well, of course he is! He was nearly smashed into a pancake!"

"Pancakes are yum." Said Billy.

"Give him to Monogram. He'll keep him safe with the others." Perry ran over to Devon the dog, who was leaning against a tree.

"You okay?"

Devon looked up wearily. "We're outnumbered. We don't stand a chance. Darren and Carrie had to be sent to the vet. And Peter the Panda went hysterical and is off in a flower field somewhere counting petals. Penny's the only one who's held up so far besides the security agents."

"We can take them."

Devon shook his head. "I don't think so, Perry."

"Phineas and Ferb are helping. They should have a huge robot out here momentarily."

"We're done for."

"Don't say that."

Devon gave him a tearful look. "Perry, you're my friend. You mean so much to me. But when you put in that code…" He took a deep breath. "I don't know. It just seems like nothing is real anymore."

Perry sat down next to him. "I messed up. I know that. But I think we can win. We'll fix this."

"Lots of agents have been injured. Most of O.W.C.A is in ruins."

"O.W.C.A will get rebuilt. The agents will get better."

"I just hate knowing that… this all… happened because of you."

Perry winced. "I'm fixing it, though… I'm making it good again."

"I don't see how you can. Dennis nearly killed you back there. I saw Penny carrying you out."

"I can fix this." Perry stood up.

Devon stared at the ground. "I'll get back up and fight soon. It won't do any good, but I'll defend the agency, no matter what it takes…"

"I will too, buddy." Perry went deeper into the woods.

It was surprisingly quiet in this area. No agents to be seen. Perry wondered why the Rogues hadn't decided to invade this place yet.

He'd thought too soon.

Three Rogues leapt from the bushes and jumped on him. Perry tried to fight them, but he could only rid of one.

Suddenly, they were swept away by a giant hand.

A giant… robot hand.

Perry looked up and smiled.

The Phineas and Ferb robot gave him a salute.

* * *

Ferdinand the frog leapt up to a treehouse-looking structure. Perry followed.

"Apparently there's a kind of beam up here." Ferdinand said. "It's keeping the SS SN men up at O.W.C.A, and that's what's keeping us from getting back in. Basically, it's how the Rogues are taking over."

Platyborg landed in front of them. "You thought I wasn't going to show up, didn't you?"

"We could certainly use your help." Perry said. "Where did you come from?"

"You know me. I love randomly popping up. A little stealth technique I used to use on you."

"I remember it well."

"What can I do?"

"Well, you could help the agents fight. Those Rogues are pretty tough."

Platyborg sulked. "They're not gonna be as fun to fight with as you are."

"They're better. A real challenge. And you're good at taking hits. Just stay away from electrical sockets."

"Aye aye, captain." Platyborg blasted away.

They continued climbing to the top. It was easier for Ferdinand. He could just jump. Perry was at his best in water. He'd never been too good at climbing. It was hard enough to walk.

"Almost there." Ferdinand called from the top. "You can do it."

"I am going on a diet." Perry moaned, heaving himself up. "Starting right now. I am losing eighteen pounds. Don't try to stop me."

"You only weigh three pounds."

"I'm being sarcastic." Perry climbed onto the wooden floor held up by a tree where Ferdinand sat. "I'm just REALLY heavy when I'm trying to lift myself up. So where's this beam?"

Ferdinand pulled out a map. "That's the weird thing. It should be right here…"

"That map's a fake." Dennis said, coming out from behind the tree trunk. "Because this is a trap."

"Like we didn't figure that out the instant you popped out of nowhere." Ferdinand shot back.

"With you popping out, we could only infer that this was either a trap, or a dream." Perry said. "Wear a tutu!"

"What?"

"See? It's a trap. If it were a dream, you'd be wearing a tutu right now."

Dennis bared his teeth. "You make very little sense, agent."

Percy and a rogue pig came out as well.

"Shall we take them back, boss?" Asked the pig.

"No. I have special plans for these two." Dennis thought for a minute. "Actually, just take the frog."

"Take him where?" Perry demanded.

"No worries. Just to our little ditch where we throw all our prisoners of war. They mostly just climb right out again. After a day or so."

The pig grabbed Ferdinand and vanished.

"Now." Dennis said. "Remember back when I asked you if your boys could fly?"

Perry narrowed his eyes. "Vaguely."

"Well, I may as well pose the question to you. Since this will be the last time we see each other, I'll tell you what's going to happen after you take a little… trip."

Perry glared at him.

"The O.W.C.A will fall, obviously, and then we will create a new agency. One ruled by us. It will ensure that the O.W.C.A will never return and that all agents will follow their own rules."

"Without rules, there is chaos." Perry snapped, quoting Monogram.

"Quite true. But who better to cause chaos than the Rogues?"

Dennis then shoved Perry off the edge of the platform. Perry instinctively reached out and was able to grasp onto the side, his body dangling many feet from the ground.

Dennis laughed. "Now, here's where I ask: Can you fly, Perry the platypus? I assume you forgot your parachute, since… oh yes. There's a rule that agents may not have their gadgets returned unless they have been officially reassigned ten days. See? O.W.C.A's stupid rules do no good at all."

Perry struggled to keep hold.

"I'm sorry, but you've been too much of a pest, and I'll be glad to get rid of you."

Dennis then kicked Perry's hand. His grip was lost, and he fell.

For about a second.

Someone had grabbed his wrist.

Perry looked up.

Percy was clutching onto his arm. His face was pale with terror.

Their eyes met, and Perry understood.

Like when Platyborg had gotten his tail stuck in that socket.

This had been Percy's shock.

* * *

Perry grasped on tightly to Percy's wrist. Percy began to pull him up.

"Are you crazy?" Dennis snapped. "You've got like seventy more kids. What's one less? We'll LOSE because of him!"

"I have SIX kids, Dennis. And that doesn't matter. They all mean everything to me."

"Seven, actually. Larry ran away after he hatched." Perry said.

Percy gave him a confused look. "Really? Did he know me?"

"Nope. He came back yesterday."

"Gosh."

Dennis shoved Percy from behind. Perry and Percy started to fall.

It was a long fall.

"Guess we might as well see the good in this." Perry said.

Percy shrugged. "I guess, for one thing… the sky's the perfect shade of blue right now."

"Nice breeze today."

"We haven't hit the ground yet."

"Hm, good one."

A moment later, a giant metal hand caught them. The huge robot placed them safely on the ground.

"Thanks, guys!" Perry called to the robot. He'd forgotten to put Piggy Woo in, so to Phineas and Ferb, it probably just sounded like "Gnakakakaka".

Percy was shivering.

"You okay?" Perry asked.

"Sure."

"Dad?"

"Huh?"

"Thanks."

"…Don't mention it." Percy looked at the ground, then back at Perry. "We have to break down the real beam before Dennis attacks Monogram."

"So we run for it?"

"Yeah, pretty much."

Perry followed him to what looked like a random tree in the forest. Percy knocked on it nine times, and a thick rope fell down so they could use it to climb up.

"Time to do what platypuses DON'T do best." Percy muttered, grabbing hold of the rope and hoisting himself up.

Perry did the same. It seemed like hours had gone by when they reached the top.

Percy had obviously been thinking that as well. "Ten minutes. It takes ten minutes." He said breathlessly. He pointed over to a glowing purple light attached to a machine. "Here's the deal. It takes both of us to smash down that lever there. The light will turn off, which means the security system Dennis set up will also turn off. Then you slide on that zip line and get far away while I do the rest."

"The rest?"

"Destroy the machine. Needs to be done with this." Percy held up a tiny sphere. "It may look small, but it'll blast two seconds after set."

"But…"

Percy looked him straight in the eyes. "Get on that zip line, you understand? Then you'll be safe."

"You…"

"It's the only way."

Perry shook his head. "You should go. I should set it."

"Are you crazy?"

"I put in that code. I'm the whole reason that the SS SN men are down in the agency. I need to destroy the machine."

"Don't argue with me."

"But-"

"Drop it, Perry. Come on." Perry ran over to the lever.

Perry helped him shove it down. A moaning sound came from the machine and the purple light shut off.

"Now the machine's accessible to anyone who wants it." Percy said. He brought out the sphere. "Go."

Perry didn't move.

"GO."

"I need to do this."

"You need to get away. I almost let you get hurt once. I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I did it again."

Perry took a deep breath and walked over to the zip line.

It was really more like a ski lift. A tiny, cushioned chair that only went down.

"Dad…" Perry felt his eyes well up with tears. "Will I ever… see you again?"

Percy gave him a hug.

Perry grasped his father's hand, encasing a small object in his fingers. Then he tossed Percy into the ski lift and gave it a push.

It started to carry Percy safely down.

"PERRY! NO!"

Perry ran back to the machine. He found a red button on the sphere, pushed it, and stuck it on the contraption.

Then he ran for it.

He leapt and grabbed the rope that took the zip-lift-thing down and started to slide.

"Ropeburn." He muttered.

Then, a BANG!

He felt the explosion behind him, the heat, as it came closer. It might have been enough time, but it wasn't.

Perry was knocked off the rope and toward the ground. A tree branch broke his fall. Then another.

He slammed on the ground. The last thing he heard were the SS SN men coming into the woods.

But this time they wouldn't hurt the O.W.C.A.

They were after the Rogues.

* * *

"You're hurt!"

"I'm fine, mom." Perry mumbled. He rolled over in the O.W.C.A hospital bed, trying to get in a comfortable position.

"There's a bandage on your leg!"

"It's not broken. I just had to get a few stitches."

"I told you not to set that off!" Percy scolded.

"Don't yell at him, he's trying to recover." Pansy whispered.

Perry looked up at his parents. They were smiling at him.

"Nice work." Percy said.

"Did your owners see you?" Pansy asked.

"Yeah. They had to go get their memories erased again." Perry winced as he tried to sit up. His head, back and arm really hurt. Not to mention his leg.

"Memory erase, huh? That's what they did to Percy?"

Percy nodded. "If they did it again, though, I promise you I won't cause any more trouble. I almost hurt you guys."

Pansy gave him a hug. Then she turned back to Perry. "I'm heading back to the zoo."

"We both are." Percy added.

"Monogram has this thing that will make me normal again. Like, I'll be how I was before I was trained, but I'll still remember it all."  
Perry furrowed his brow. "You're… wanting to be mindless again?"  
"She does, not me." Percy said.

"It's not working out for me, this smart thing." Pansy admitted. "I had a better time when I was stupid."

"You found out you were a mother." Perry said quietly.

Pansy gazed at him fondly. "I promise you, my magical eggs meant just as much to me as my kids do."

"I… I guess if you want to."

"Visit the zoo again REALLY soon." Percy said, giving Perry an air hug. "And if I ever tell you to get on a zip line again, DO IT."

"Promise, and I can't promise you that."  
Perry reached up and gave Pansy a soft hug. Percy joined in again.

"So proud of you, son." Percy said.

Perry smiled. Somehow, those words made everything better.


End file.
